


Not A Time For Being Younger

by JustAPassingGlance



Category: Glee
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:37:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAPassingGlance/pseuds/JustAPassingGlance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Halloween had always been Blaine's favorite holiday. But there was just no way his costumes could ever compete with Sebastian's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not A Time For Being Younger

**Author's Note:**

> I meant for this to be fun and fluffy. I think I missed that mark a little.

Halloween was more than just Blaine's favorite holiday. In the Anderson house, Halloween was  _his **.**_  He oversaw every aspect of it with a militancy that rivaled Cooper’s supervision of Christmas Eve and with much more planning than their mom’s New Year’s party.

At just under a year, he had started to manage the decorating of the house, imperiously pointing his still-chubby firsts to corners he wanted the spider webs to be hung in and protesting the skeletons being relegated to the alcove by the stairs. By three, he was dictating what everyone’s jack-o’-lanterns should look like and what that year’s candy selection should be.

But Blaine’s favorite part of the holiday was always his costume.  He began thinking about it in June. Sometimes an idea would stick, most of the time they didn’t and he just used the months to consider all of his options—the latest and greatest cartoon or movie character, a tribute to the old musical-movies that Mrs. Anderson loved to watch, a classic monster with some sort of twist.

As soon as he mastered holding a pencil, he began to sketch out his ideas. With two weeks to go until Halloween, he would bring his final product to Mrs. Anderson who would do her best to bring it to life with Blaine helping in any way he could.

For three years he always had the best costume. He relished his teacher’s praise  and the impressed looks his classmates gave him from inside their own store-bought outfits.

And then Sebastian Smythe moved into town.

They were often in the same class but they hung out with different people and weren’t that close. Blaine had taught Sebastian how to climb the monkey bars and Sebastian was always willing to give Blaine his packet of Gushers when Mrs. Anderson went on yet another diet and stopped packing anything sugary for Blaine’s lunch. Vaguely, they considered themselves friends, but more in the way they were both friends with everyone in their class than in a way that developed after spending real time together. 

For 364 days of the year, Blaine liked Sebastian.

And Blaine tried to like him every Halloween. He really did. He didn’t want to be the kind of person who let petty emotions like jealously dictate his life. He hated the way his stomach bitterly twisted and his lip jutted out as Sebastian received the praise and awards that he had grown so used to receiving. The only other person who ever made him feel like that was Cooper and he hated it then too. Hated being made to feel small and insignificant as his own light was eclipsed by a brighter star.

But there was just no way he could compete with Sebastian’s costumes.

It wasn’t really fair. Sebastian’s mom was a fashion designer and his dad was a tech wizard. His costumes looked like they came straight from a Hollywood blockbuster while Blaine’s were little more than childish imitations, cobbled together at a kitchen table by amateurs.

He made sure to never let Sebastian know how he felt. He tried to smile brightly whenever Sebastian congratulated him on another excellent, but still second place, costume and returned the compliment without letting any envy creep into his voice as Sebastian’s actually lit up. (Much more impressive at night, Sebastian had informed him and Blaine meant it when he muttered ‘I bet’ under his breath.)

Over the years, he became used to the sting of coming in second.

He always hoped that this would be the year when he would finally come up with something creative and clever enough, but he was never surprised when, once again, it was Sebastian marching at the front of the Halloween parade and not him.  

It was more fun, he told himself, walking with his class and all of his friends.

But in 5th grade his wish finally came true. He might not have been quite as enthused while dreaming up his zombie pirate costume but he had spent hours experimenting with makeup to get the molting of his skin right and in the end he was proud of his work.

And Sebastian hadn’t dressed up as anything.

“Halloween is for losers,” he sneered as the rest of the class ran around, hyper off sugar before lunch even started.  

The knowledge of victory felt a little hollow to Blaine. But winning was still winning, even if it wasn’t against his number one adversary.

And this was the most important year to win. They were 5th graders and, therefore, the oldest in the school. It added a level of respect to the title, like he was the King of Halloween. Next year, it would be his costume that everyone was trying to live up to.

Happily he went about his morning, volunteering to pass out papers so he could keep practicing his zombie shuffle. The winners of the costume contest would be named at lunch and the parade was scheduled to start at 2 and his walk had to be perfect by then.

He was walking back to music class from the bathroom when he heard his teacher’s voice floating up the hallway towards him. Quickly, he ducked back into the bathroom before Mrs. Klena could turn the corner and spot him. He hadn’t actually been doing anything wrong, but he felt guilty about leaving class because he hadn’t needed to go to the bathroom, he had just wanted to check and make sure he still looked okay.

“-normally so engaged,” she was saying over the clack of her heels.

“Especially on Halloween. Remember his costume last year? I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ms. Baldini, their fourth grade teacher, said.

“It’s just been so impossible to get him interested in anything since his mother left. It sounds like it’s a truly nasty divorce. Bill goes to their church and he…”

But whatever it was the Bill was doing, Blaine never got to hear as the teachers reached the end of the hall and turned another corner.

He hadn’t known that Sebastian’s parents were getting a divorce. No one had ever said anything, even though gossip normally spread through their class like wildfire.

He had known that Sebastian had come back that year sharper than before. He still excelled at school but seemed to care less about it and barely a day passed when he wasn’t being given a demerit for making a snide comment. Some days he was the same old Sebastian Blaine had known for years, but most days he bristled with annoyance and exasperation at the smallest of things.

 _Probably just hormones_ was the popular adult excuse. Or else _he’s just trying to be cool_. And Blaine had believed that. He had thought that Sebastian was just trying to be edgier, like the leather jacket wearing characters so popular in movies and tv.

But, much like those characters, there was more to it than just that. He was just hurt and angry and trying his best to deal with things most of his classmates couldn't understand.

And Sebastian hadn't skipped dressing up because he outgrew Halloween and now thought it was lame. His mom wasn’t there to make the costume for him.

Blaine looked down at his own costume. He and his own mom had spent hours working on it together. They hadn’t been able to find the perfect shirt anywhere, even after looking through every consignment shop in the area, so she had found a pattern and made it herself. After that, they spent hours going over it, making every tear and tatter with precision.

He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she just wasn’t there to do that with him.

He probably wouldn’t have dressed up either.

Feeling suddenly horrible, he trudged to the sinks. Not a zombie trudge, just his own heart and feet feeling suddenly heavy.

It took twelve paper towels to wipe his face and hands clean. There wasn’t much that he could do about his clothes, he hadn’t packed a change, but he did take off his captain’s hand and planned to shove it into his backpack when he got back to their classroom.

By the time he got back to Music, the class was almost over and the teacher made a joke about how he was getting ready to send out a search party for Blaine.

Chastised, he sat back down, cross-legged, next to Sam.

“Dude,” Sam hissed, “why’d you take off your makeup? You looked awesome.”

Blaine shrugged, his eyes flickering over to where Sebastian was sitting, just as curious as Sam and clearly eavesdropping on their conversation. “Sebastian is right. Halloween is stupid.”

Sam, who was dressed like a Power Ranger, gasped like Blaine had personally insulted him and Tina did her best to look concerned from beneath her cat mask. Sebastian arched an eyebrow, although Blaine couldn’t tell whether it was in appreciation or skepticism.

Tina leaned across Sam to whisper, “Does this mean you’re not going-”

Blaine cut her off with a murmured _shhh_ under Mr. Card’s quelling glare.

On the count of four, Blaine obediently raised his recorder to his lips and joined his classmates in warbling their way through a final, shrill rendition of _This Is Halloween_ , even though it didn't feel much like Halloween anymore.


End file.
